Man charged with Mamata Banerjee murder bid has been acquitted after 29 years. On Thursday, a former CPI-M youth leader, Lalu Alam was acquitted by a court in Kolkata in a case of attempting to murder West Bengal Chief Minister, who was then state youth Congress chief, Mamata Banerjee 29 years ago after the state government requested that the matter be closed. On August 16, 1990, Mamata Banerjee had sustained severe head injuries after being hit multiple times while leading a Congress rally at Hazra crossing in South Kolkata in support of a bandh called by her party.

It was alleged that the accused Alam hit Banerjee repeatedly with a stick, leaving her with a fractured skull. The West Bengal Chief Minister had to be hospitalised and the incident created a political storm that put the state's then CPI-M-led Left Front government on the backfoot. During the day, government pleader Radhakanta Mukherjee argued before the Alipur Court that he saw no future in the case as none of the witnesses were alive. Also of the 12 people charge-sheeted, all except Alam were either dead or absconding.